NOCCCD Board Meeting Highlights for November 12, 2024

Presentations

Career Technical Education:

All three NOCCCD campuses gave reports on their Career Technical Education (CTE) courses. Some highlights included:
•    The Pharmacy Technician program at NOCE has been recognized as being part of the top four best programs nationally and shows excellent test scores among its students in national testing.
•    A brand-new Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) and STEM center will be opening on the Fullerton College campus in Spring of 2025 offering new study spaces, computers, a lounge, and marker-space to MESA and STEM students. Additionally, in Spring 2025 Fullerton will offer its first eSports course. 
•    On May 10th, 2024, Cypress College hosted a groundbreaking symposium on Artificial Intelligence with expert speakers. New training equipment is coming to Cypress’ Dental, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Radiologic Technology, and Nursing departments. 
Ghana Delegation: All three campuses presented on the experiences of the faculty and student delegations’ trips to Ghana, Africa, detailing how culturally enriching it was and how it will impact their campuses. Reported highlights were the re-naming ceremony, tour of Elmina Castle Slave Holding Cell, and meeting the King of Ghana. The delegation presented a beautiful piece of artwork to the Board as a token of their appreciation. 

Ghana Delegation

All three campuses presented on the experiences of the faculty and student delegations’ trips to Ghana, Africa, detailing how culturally enriching it was and how it will impact their campuses. Reported highlights were the re-naming ceremony, tour of Elmina Castle Slave Holding Cell, and meeting the King of Ghana. The delegation presented a beautiful piece of artwork to the Board as a token of their appreciation. 

BOARD ACTIONS

The Board of Trustees acted on agenda items, including those highlighted below.

Instructional Resources 

The Board has moved the review and approval of the 2022-2026 NOCCCD District-wide Strategic Plan to the upcoming November 26, 2024 meeting.

General

The Board discussed the issue of campus safety and arming campus safety officers with batons. Fullerton College Student Trustee Sharon Kim delivered a presentation from Associated Students which detailed arguments against the arming of campus safety officers with batons. This issue will return at a future Board Meeting.

Human Resources

Approvals were given by the Board for retirement for NOCCCD Buyer Christine Hoang, and the hiring of several new employees including Shawn Lee as NOCE Safety Officer, Beatriz Pascual-Travaglia as NOCE LEAP Manager, Sandra Vidal-Yuan as NOCE Special Projects Coordinator in Student Services, and Lizbeth Zambrano as Facilities Custodian at Fullerton College. As well as promotions for Tina Maertens to Administrative Assistant III of Technology & Engineering at Fullerton College, and Celena Toral to Facilities Custodian II at Cypress College. Congratulations to all!

General

The tentative 2025 Board Meeting Calendar was presented, and changes were proposed to accommodate holidays in 2025.

REPORTS

NOCE President Valentina Purtell reported that the NOCE CTE Pharmacy Technician program passed another National Accreditation visit with high marks and that the surveyor remarked that NOCE’s program stands out as “one of the top four programs” out of 200 nationwide. 

Fullerton College President Dr. Cynthia Olivo acknowledged the passing of Professor Ty Torres and offered condolences to his family and friends. She praised her campus’ response to the tragedy by offering mental health services to grieving students. In recognition of Veteran’s Day, she added that Fullerton has also received $150,000 from the State Chancellor’s Office dedicated to veteran’s mental health.

Cypress College President Dr. Scott Thayer thanked faculty and staff for the CTE and Ghana presentations then congratulated Cypress students on the successful production of the play ‘The Last Days of Judas’. 

NOCCCD Director of Public & Governmental Affairs Kai Stearns introduced the new NOCCCD Communications Coordinator, Miranda Marquez.

Karla Frizler, District Management Association President, reported on the group’s next meeting which will feature Julie Kossick, Associate Vice President of Human Resources. Additionally, she emphasized the need to check on students and employees who may be experiencing fear and anxiety after the election.

Michelle Patrick-Norng, the NOCE Academic Senate President, thanked faculty members Jennifer Carey and Dr. Erin Sherard for their presence at the Vision 2030 Orange County Regional Convening. She recommended that empowering BIPOC students to pursue higher education should be a focus of CTE and degree programs in the future 

The Fullerton College Academic Senate President Bridget Kominek read a resolution from the senate regarding full time faculty hiring. 

CSEA President Pamela Spence thanked all the veterans that have served our country.

The Cypress College Academic Senate President Kathleen Mc Allister reported on activities from the College’s artificial intelligence taskforce to develop guidelines for faculty to include in their courses. She reported on the faculty prioritization process.

The Adjunct Faculty United President Marlo Smith expressed concerns about the high turnover rate of adjunct faculty at the district citing an internal survey. 

BOARD REPORTS

Fullerton College Student Trustee Sharon Kim reported that Halloween fundraisers were successful and fun for students. Election Day events were also well received by the student body and the following day the College was ready to provide much-needed resources to the students who needed mental health support. She remarked that Fullerton College staff and faculty were quick and ready to meet the needs of its students.

Cypress College Student Trustee Katie Wong noted that there will be several events and workshops upcoming in Spring 2025 including a 5k marathon and a Thanksgiving Food Drive which is currently ongoing. 

Board Secretary Barbara Dunsheath welcomed the new trustee, Mark Lopez, and congratulated Trustees’ Ed Lopez, Evangelina Rosales, and Ryan Bent on winning re-election.

Board President Evangelina Rosales recounted her experience at the COLEGAS 2024 Annual Conference and expressed how enriching she found it to be as well as how excited to see the widespread impact it will have on the District and its students. She closed out the meeting offering condolences to the family, friends, and students of beloved professor, Ty Torres, who passed in a tragic accident on November 5th of this year. 

NEXT MEETING

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the NOCCCD Board of Trustees will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 26, 2024 at the Anaheim Union High School District Board Room.

Board Highlights is produced by NOCCCD Public & Governmental Affairs as a summary of the Board actions and reports. It is not intended as a replacement of the official minutes of the Board meeting. For more information on the NOCCCD Board of Trustees, please visit the website.